


Where All The Fun Will Be

by kispesan



Category: New Mutants, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Canon Dialogue, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, Mutant Pride, Mutual Pining, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 08:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16194200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kispesan/pseuds/kispesan
Summary: Dani realizes she's in love with Rahne. Rahne realizes she's in love with Dani.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did my best to imitate the way Rahne's speech is written, but if it's too distracting/terrible I'll have to go back and scrap that.

Dani Moonstar’s first night at Professor Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was not a restful one. Hours passed of her tossing from one side to the other, instinctively reaching for her bedside knife at every creak, and staring bleary eyed up at the ceiling. When she finally found herself drifting off, Dani shot out of bed at the sound of a blood-curdling scream from the room beside her. Roberto’s room. This would come to be a normal experience for the New Mutants, each taking turns waking the hall with their screams; Rahne begging for forgiveness, Xi’an shrieking something unfamiliar in French, Sam gasping for air as if he couldn’t breathe, or Dani herself, fleeing bears in her sleep. But tonight was only the first of the routine nightmares to come.

Dani grabbed her knife and went running. Her initial thought was that the Hellfire Club had somehow gotten past the school’s security measures, and was here for revenge. The lady, Miss Tessa as Xavier had called her, assured them there would be no more trouble from Pierce, but Dani didn’t trust her any more than she’d trust that man himself.

Dani frantically opened the door with one hand while brandishing her blade with the other, but instead of any sign of a threat, there was only Roberto, thrashing around in bed and calling out the name Juliana. The girl, the one who died shielding him from a sweep of bullets. The one who’s death he blamed himself for.

Dani found herself much less prepared for this situation. She set her knife down at the foot of Roberto’s bed, and reached out hesitantly to touch him, before pulling away, unsure of what to do. Thankfully, it seemed she didn’t have to do anything, with Xi’an’s petite figure in the doorway.

“Let me,” she said, in the kind of tone that reminded Dani of her mother. Xi’an spoke of her two younger siblings; surely she was better fitted for this. Dani backed away without a word.

 

Xi’an gently gripped Roberto’s arm, and he instantly woke with a fist swinging. He missed Xi’an’s face by an inch, who leaned back just in time.

The first thing to come from his mouth were the words “Behind you!” Dani turned around to see they were not alone. A Hellfire goon dressed in red stood at her heels with a gun in hand. Dani hit the floor, as did Xi’an while Roberto rolled out of bed, and the rapid bullets went flying. All three children were screaming now, until Dani kicked the leg of the man and suddenly he disappeared.

An illusion.

After a moment of silence, Roberto pulled himself off the floor and dusted off his striped pajamas and curly hair, before climbing back onto his bed.

“What are you playing at, huh?” Roberto shook his fist, with all the intimidation a 5’4” thirteen year old kid could muster.

“It was an accident,” Dani said defensively, but both Xi’an and Roberto held unforgiving glares. “I didn’t mean to—your fear must have overwhelmed my powers!”

“I wasn’t afraid!” Despite it being the middle of the night, Dani watched Roberto’s dark brown skin grow darker, until it was nearing a coal black. She took a step back, hesitantly.

“It is okay to have nightmares, Roberto,” Xi’an tried to sooth him. Despite being six years his senior, she was about the same height, making it easy for the two of them to sit on top of his single mattress. “But you must remember that is all they are.”

Roberto’s power dwindled, but his face was still contorted in anger. “This is all one big nightmare,” he motioned around him, before crossing his arms and looking to the window. “Leave me be.”

“I’m sorry,” Dani apologized, but the boy paid her no mind. She looked to Xi’an, whose lips were pressed tightly together, without a word. Dani picked her knife back up, lowered her head and left the room. Xi’an followed her and closed ‘Berto’s door before quickly return to her own as well.

 

Roberto would forgive her, she was sure, but it was easy to see Xi’an feared Dani’s power. Dani couldn’t help but feel that was rich, coming from someone who could _possess_ _people_. But she could hardly blame her, either. Sometimes Dani wondered if her true power was isolating herself from everyone.

 

…Or perhaps not everyone. Across from Dani’s room was Rahne’s, who stood in her doorway. While Dani wore a pair of old boxer shorts and an oversized T-Shirt, Rahne was in a long, oversized nightgown that looked like it belonged in the 1800s. Her fuzzy short red hair was even more untamed than usual, flattened on one side and wild on the other. She clasped her hands over her chest and took a step forward, looking down at the knife in Dani’s hand.

“What happened?”

“Roberto was freaking out in his sleep. I thought he was in danger, so I ran in, except the only danger was my mutant power.”

“Is tha’ why ye were all screamin’, from an illusion?”

Dani nodded, and wiped at her tired eyes. Rahne apparently didn’t need their telepathic rapport to sense Dani was embarrassed and a little hurt, as the younger girl approached her and gripped her free hand gently. “Can I tell ye somethin’? Maybe it makes me a bad person, no more than I already am I s’pose. But I… I’m glad t’ know someone understands what it’s like t’ be cursed.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Dani said, pulling her hand away and placing it on Rahne’s shoulder. It was so much easier to be positive for someone else’s sake than for her own. “You’re not cursed. Anyone who has a problem with you is just being a jerk, and that’s on them, not you!”

“Ye cannae argue wi’ the Lord, Dani,” Rahne frowned. “Our gifts are the works o’ Satan; Reverend Craig said it so.” Dani didn’t know who Reverend Craig was, but he sounded like a thoroughly nasty person.

“Your _Lord_ isn’t mine,” Dani shrugged, finding it hard to believe that the Great Spirit would have such hatred, “and did it ever occur to you that maybe this Reverend Craig was _wrong?_ ”

Rahne shook her head. “The Reverend is a man o’ God. He cannae be wrong.”

“I can think of a lotta white men who thought the same, and they were as wrong as it comes.”

“Oh Dani, I’m sorry,” Rahne sighed. “I dinnae mean t’ start anythin’. I only mean t’ say I understan’ how it is t’ see people fear ye.”

“I know.” Dani folded her arm and pulled Rahne into a half hug. “But I still mean what I said. You’re no more cursed than I am.”

“An’ if tha’ means we both belong in Hell?”

“Then it sounds like that’s where all the fun will be,” she grinned impishly. While Rahne didn’t seem to see the humour in that, at least Dani felt it better than going back to bed on a sour note. Rahne was right about one thing; they were indeed kindred spirits. Maybe it wasn’t so bad if at least they had a friend in each other.

 

* * *

  

Two weeks after first being brought to the school, Dani found herself staring at her reflection in her bedroom’s vanity mirror, wondering how she wound up where she was. It seemed like just yesterday she was holding her dead grandfather, knowing his murder would be disregarded on the count of his skin. She had sworn to avenge his death… instead, she let the man responsible go in favour of saving Rahne. If she should have felt guilty about this, she didn’t. Besides, Dani figured if anything, Black Eagle would be pleased to see his granddaughter in Xavier’s school for mutants, like he wished. He would probably be laughing, too, and tell her things have a way of working out how they should.

“My parents’ death, your death, that was all supposed to happen, then?” She asked out loud, carrying out the imaginary conversation. “I won’t believe that, Grandfather.” He’d say she wouldn’t have to believe, of course. Only try to be happy with what she had. That she could do. For him.

         

Looking herself over in the uniform Xavier had presented to her though, Dani was not happy. It was a two-piece skin-tight suit of an unfamiliar material, black and an ugly bright yellow, with matching yellow gloves and boots. At her waist was a red belt, clasped by a large circular buckle with an X. She had seen the photos of the original X-Men, Xavier’s first group of students. They first wore outfits not unlike this one. All the same. All so… bland.

Dani unclipped her belt and discarded it across her bed. She then pulled out the vanity drawer and lifted out her mother’s necklace, one of the few keepsakes she had of hers. It was a ring of large turquoise stones, large enough to fit around Dani’s waist… with this in mind, Dani clipped it there, and liked how well it hung above her hips. In some ways, the stones would give her more protection than her uniform could. She then kicked off her yellow boots, and went to her closet to retrieve her own. After once again examining herself and feeling much more confident, she went to join the Professor in his study, as instructed.

 

Professor Xavier was not nearly as pleased with her choice in accessorizing, and part of Dani was glad. Just when she hoped he would say something, he did, as soon as the others joined her.

“Danielle, you’re out of uniform—please explain yourself.”

She was all too happy to do so. “I am Cheyenne. Nothing—no one—will ever make me forget or abandon my heritage.” Xavier’s stony face softened a bit. “I am also an individual, professor. You say we must wear these clothes—I will do ask you ask, but in my own manner. If that bothers you, I can leave.” She then watched his face grow stern again.

“That won’t be necessary. I see that our relationship is becoming as… fascinating… as I anticipated.”

         

Before Dani could retort, Xavier asked Rahne to answer the door, and the four young mutants were greeted by the hellfire kid they’d unmasked in Kentucky; a lanky blonde white boy that towered over the rest of them, but looked like he didn’t fit into his own stature. While the others were warming up to Sam Guthrie, who Xavier introduced him as, Rahne tugged at Dani’s sleeve.

“I think your belt is ver’ pretty, Dani.”

“Thanks,” she smiled.

“Though I fear t’ ask… is tha’ real animal skin on yer feet?”

Dani looked down at her boots and her grin widened in pride. “Real hide, yep! My mother and I made them together.” Dani had never been very good at such things; she lacked the patience for it. But working with her mother was different. It was important, her mother had said, to keep such skills and traditions going, even if modern technology made things look obsolete in comparison. By doing things as their ancestors did, they were keeping that part of them alive. She lifted her leg and felt the texture absently, and noticed that rather than looking impressed, Rahne was disturbed.

“How _could_ ye?”

Dani frowned, disappointed. “Please don’t be one of _those_ people, Rahne. What, should we have let the rest of the deer go to waste aside from the meat? Then it’s death would be for nothing!”

“I cannae support hunting, Dani. It’s wrong.”

“It’s not wrong if it’s a means of _living_ ,” Dani crossed her arms, her voice growing louder to the point of interrupting the others. “Hunting for sport and hunting for food are two completely different things. My family never hunted for more than what we needed. That’s how my people have always done it.”

“But why couldn’ ye jus’ buy food from a store?”

“We do! But not _everything_ is easy to get at the store!”

“If ah may,” the newbie Sam interjected, now that the others were privy to their argument, “me an’ my daddy did our fair share of huntin’. It’s cheaper and fresher than buying from the market. Not everyone’s got the means of payin’ someone else to get their meat.”

“ _Yes_ ,” Dani waved her hand at him, “ _exactly_. Thank you.” She then looked to the professor, hoping he would also come to her defence… but he man said nothing. Better than making her take them off at least, she supposed. “If we’re gonna be friends, kiddo, you need to learn to respect my culture is different than yours. How would you feel if some English bastard told you not to wear that tartan skirt of yours, you like so much?”

“Language, Danielle,” said Xavier. Sure, _that_ he spoke up over.

Rahne nodded her head, all the same. “I will try t’ be better for you, Dani.”

Dani supposed she could have said thank you, but she was too mad. Up to this point, Rahne was the only one to never shy away from her, not once. All she said was “Good,” before turning on her heel to face the other direction. Had Xavier not gathered them for a reason, she would have preferred to depart to her room. Instead all she could do was make it clear she was no longer in the mood to talk, and wait for whatever the professor wanted.

Rahne kept at a distance for the rest of the evening.

 

* * *

  

“Rahney,” Dani called, cupping her hands to extend the echo even further down the hall. If only Xavier’s school wasn’t twice the size it need to be… “Ya better be up here, ‘cause I really don’t want to start from the bottom floor and search all over again!”

Suddenly Dani felt an elastic stretch in her head, her thoughts extended to Rahne’s, now that she shapeshifted into her canine form. Dani made her way to the middle of the hall and opened up the closet door to see Rahne curled up around a mop bucket.

“Have you been up here the whole time?” Dani asked, and received a confirmation in her head. The younger girl had disappeared the minute they returned from their dance class with Stevie Hunter. Dani wasn’t sure if it was jealousy over Amara being too damn perfect at everything, or just a spur of the moment lack of judgement, but Rahne had transformed into a wolf mid jump with the dance studio’s windows wide open. If that wasn’t worth enough concern, she then shared that back in Scotland, the people of her village hunted her as if she were a demon, because of her mutation. That if it wasn’t for Dr. Moira McTaggart, she’d likely be dead. When Dani heard that, she immediately thought back to the night she saw the greatest fears of all her teammates, where Rahne was burned at the stake like some witch. (The thought still made her insides grow cold.) She thought of the first night at the school, where Rahne said her gift was a curse from Satan. It added up all too well. And Dani was _not_ having it.

 

“Rahne,” Dani waved her out of the closet, though Rahne’s curled up wolf form only tightened. In her head, Dani could feel her desire to stay there, alone in the dark. If there was anyone who understood how comforting solitude could be, it was Dani, but she was afraid if she let Rahne stay there, they’d never get her out again. “I want to show you something. Just us. You don’t even have to change if you don’t want to.”

After a second, Rahne stood on all fours, and trotted out of the closet. Dani gave an encouraging smile and waved at her again, signalling to follow.

 

For the first few weeks at the school, Dani had spent a lot of time exploring the grounds, including all the places Xavier ordered them not to touch. The one place she refrained from going back to alone, however, was the Danger Room. As silly as it was, ever since the alien controlling the Professor nearly killed her with it, she couldn’t shake the fear it would happen again. But this time she wasn’t alone, she was with Rahne, who was thoroughly confused when they entered the control room.

Dani hopped up to the panel and started flicking away at the different buttons and switches, while Rahne sat on the floor, now curious. She jumped up on one of the chairs to better see, just in time for Dani to finish her crude configuration. Before their eyes, the Danger Room changed into a ball room, more basic than Stevie’s studio, but fitted with all the necessary mirrors and bars.

“Come on,” Dani grinned, and dashed down to the room’s entrance. In her head, Rahne protested that Xavier would hardly approve of them using the Danger Room without his supervision. “Consider this an order from your team leader, then.” Dani might as well vocalize what they’d all accepted to be true since Xi’an disappeared, especially if it would convince Rahne to move her furry butt. When Dani opened the door, she finally did so.

 

In the Danger Room, the music was already playing. Dani began to wiggle to the beats in exaggerated and clunky movements, earning her a snuffly cackle from the red wolf at her side. “It’s just you and me here, Rahney. You can show off all you want! Come on, let’s see those moves!”

Rahne stared up at her for a moment, before morphing into her lithe human figure and spinning into a twirl that could put fairy tale princesses to shame. Dani cheered and started applauding, as Rahne did a pirouette and jump, transforming in the air and landing on all fours as she did before in Stevie’s studio. This time, free to continue, she leaped back up and transformed again, remaining in her half human, half lupine state for another spin. Her powerful back legs carried her further, all the way over to the wall, where she jumped and kicked off of into a somersault. Rahne landed perfectly, once again human, and in a fit of giggles.

The two spent the rest of the afternoon in the Danger Room, dancing and laughing at each other carrying on. When they both felt Xavier order them to the dining room for supper, it was a relief to feel no anger. It saved Dani from having to waste time challenging him.

After switching off the simulation programs, Dani turned around, right into a tight hug from Rahne.

“Thank ye, Dani. I cannae tell ye how much this meant t’ me.”

She wrapped her arms around the tinier girl, who only buried herself deeper into Dani’s shoulder. It was then Dani realized that Rahne gave the best hugs she’d ever received. The kind you could happily spend all day in bed snuggling in. “Anytime, kiddo. I mean it.” In all truth, the jaunt of silly fun felt good for her own soul, too.

 

* * *

 

 “I am _not_ going in there,” Dani aptly refused, disgust painted all over her face. When she let the others convince her to accompany them to the mall for a fun horror movie, she didn’t imagine a re-showing of _Eyes of Fire_.

“Ah’ve seen this one before, Dani. It’s not that scary,” Sam encouraged her. He failed to understand it had nothing to do with the horror, and everything to do with her not wanting to see yet another western with natives as the backdrop villains.

“You can’t make me.”

“Well, we could push you in,” Roberto said from behind her wheelchair. It had been a week since she was released from the hospital, after barely surviving the attack from the Demon Bear. She was assured she’d be able to walk again soon, but soon wasn’t soon enough.

“Just try it, shorty. I’ll crawl home if I have to!”

“C’mon, Dani. The Professor only let us go without a chaperone ‘cause ah promised we’d stay together,” tried to reason Sam. Dani wished Illyana had joined them, then she could teleport her back to the school. But being raised in limbo left horror movies trite in comparison, and she said she had plans with her roommate Kitty Pryde instead.

“Why don’ Dani an’ me see somethin’ else?” Rahne offered, and Dani perked up a bit. “See, tha’ one is playing at the same time,” Rahne pointed to a poster with a young man and a walkman. The show times did indeed coincide. Sam and Amara saw this agreeable, and Bobby didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

 

The two girls bought their tickets while the boys and Amara bought theirs, and Dani let Rahne wheel her into the cinema. For an afternoon showing, it was packed full, mostly with kids their own age in large groups.

Dani painfully lifted herself out of her wheelchair and into the seat at the end of one of the middle rows. Rahne then folded the chair up so not to block the walkway, and took the seat beside her. Despite having gone to a few movies now, Rahne still reacted with glee whenever they went, like it was her first time in the cinema all over again. She kicked her legs back and forth from under her long plaid skirt, short enough to just be shy of the floor.

“It’s startin’!” she whispered excitedly, when the curtains parted.

“It’s only the commercials first, Firetop,” Dani reminded her.

“Oh, right.” She began kicking her legs again, while Dani adjusted her denim vest and brushed her long black hair over her shoulders.

Rahne noticed this. “You have na’ braided yer hair in some time, Dani.”

“Not for lack of trying,” she grumbled. “Can’t make my hands work that well, yet.” While she was regaining more control of them every day, she could only get halfway through weaving a single side before the muscles gave out into spasms, and she couldn’t hold them up any longer.

“I could help ye.”

“I’d like that,” Dani smiled, as the commercials ended and the movie began for real.

 

The movie opened with a series of close ups on dancing feet to a catchy tune, which did a pretty good job at setting the tone for the rest of the film. Half the time it felt like a music video, and Dani’s teenage heart was having a blast. A few times she snuck a look at Rahne, who was battling a mix of feeling delighted and horrified. She seemed especially distraught over the religious father figure, who decided dancing was sinful. It made Dani wonder about when Rahne hid herself away in the closet for shapeshifting while at Stevie’s studio… Rahne rarely spoke about the man who raised her, Reverend Craig, but from what she did share, it was easy for Dani to envision him saying the same. She decided she hated that man, without ever having even met him.

 

At one point Rahne had gripped Dani’s arm so tightly during what the other girl thought was a hilarious scene of two boys slowly driving tractors towards each other, that she almost lost all feeling in it. Dani realized she would have been perfectly fine with that the minute she felt the other girl let go, and her arm felt bare without the grip there. The tightness in her arm was replaced with a hot blush on her cheeks.

 

* * *

 

Dani stirred at the knock on her door. She had been lying in bed, trying to ignore the straining muscles all over her body from an intense Danger Room session. Xavier’s training had nothing on Magneto’s. She was pretty sure her ears were still ringing from that metal-on-metal screeching noise the giant gears made right before almost crushing her… As Rahne would say, she was ‘pure done in.’

“Dani?” She heard the very girl call to her, and slid off the mattress. Had it been anyone but Rahne, she would have been inclined to tell them to buzz off, but it wasn’t that long ago that Rahne had tried to reach out to her for help, and she ignored her… only for the younger girl to then disappear, overtaken by the powers she and ‘Berto stole from Cloak and Dagger. Dani made a promise to herself that she would never ignore her best friend again.

When Dani opened the door, Rahne came in and plopped in on Dani’s bed as if it were her own. She was wearing the same nightgown she did their very first night together at the school, though it was no longer so oversized, instead a proper fit for her nicely toned arms and broader shoulders. Suddenly Dani didn’t feel so sore anymore, either that or her muscle aches no longer mattered. She joined Rahne on the bed, and looked down at the crumpled up ball of newsprint in her hand.

“Whatcha got there?”

“It’s, ah… it’s fer ye,” she said, and passed the newsprint over. Dani then realized that something was wrapped up inside of the paper.

 

Dani carefully tore open the package to reveal two handmade matching bracelets of a blue and white woven crisscross pattern. She picked one up and saw that there was a single flat bead with a familiar diamond-like symbol engraved in it.

“Is that—“

“From yer mum? Yes,” Rahne said, her cheeks and ears turning a warm pink to match her frilly nightgown. “While ye were in the hospital, I said she had a lovely bracelet on, an’ she jus’ gave it t’me. Said it was the least she could do fer savin’ her daughter. When it broke I didn’ know what t’ do… So I found a new use fer the beads.”

“Did my mom tell you what it means?” Dani asked, slipping one of the bracelets on and fastening it.

“She said it was a symbol o’ guidance.”

 “It’s the Morning Star. _Vóóhéhéve_. It’s a symbol of one of our greatest chiefs, who opposed the rez rules that forced us all into Oklahoma, and led the people back into Montana. So yes, it is a symbol of guidance.” Dani looked down at the stylized diamond with a soft smile, picturing Rahne weaving them with care.

“I hope it is okay—”

“I love it, Rahney.” She then picked up the other and draped it over Rahne’s wrist. The other girl extended her arm so that she could clasp it, and the two held their wrists side by side. Looking at the rest of Rahne, you’d expect soft hands with delicate fingers, but no. They were hard and strong, with callouses that matched Dani’s own. “I’ve never had a friendship bracelet, before.” Dani admitted.

“I’ve made so many, but I never had anyone t’ give’em to…”

Dani slid her hand over Rahne’s, and took her thumb and brushed it over the other girl’s knuckles. The blush on Rahne’s face grew deeper, and Dani felt her own face feel hot again. It’d been doing that a lot, lately, whenever Rahne was around. Not that her coppery skin made the blush as easily noticeable as Rahne’s bright red cheeks, contrast to her rosy pale complexion.

Rahne looked down at their clasped hands. “Dani, I… I…”

 

Suddenly, Rahne shot up off the bed and ran to the door, fleeing to her bedroom and closing her door. Dani’s mouth and brows fell into a mournful expression, looking across the hall. There was no doubting it. Danielle Moonstar was in love with Rahne Sinclair.

It was a love she knew Rahne would never return.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I ended up going a little darker than expected in the first piece of this chapter, but it was admittedly a bit cathartic. Still, a warning that there's a) mention of the events of New Mutants #36 in which Dani is sexually assaulted, and b) some racist assholes who need to get their asses kicked. If you want to skip this piece though, you can do so no problem. All you need to know is that Rahne offers comfort for Dani as Dani has done for her in the past.

Rahne Sinclair decided that Dani always looked prettiest under moonlight. Ever since their adventure in Asgard, her brown skin had almost a shimmer to it that only really showed under just the right dim light, and walking down the road on a warm night with the moon out in full force seemed to bring it out the best. Rahne always imagined angels to look like pale, ethereal women in white gowns, but now she could only see Dani, in all the glory of her flannel button-down and dirty jeans.

It was _torturous_. How could her own thoughts keep betraying her so? How many more tests did the Lord intend to put her through?

Rahne was strong. If she could deal with being a mutant, she could deal with this. Dani was her best friend. That’s all she was. And as best friends might be inclined to do, they had decided to treat themselves to a burger and shake at Harry's Hideaway.

 

When they reached the parking lot and were short of the door just enough to smell the deliciously greasy food, Dani abruptly halted.

“Dani?” Rahne asked, turning her head to look at the taller girl, then traced her view to where Dani was looking. Loitering outside the door was a group of five young men, all leaning casually up against the siding and passing around a cigarette. Rahne didn’t understand what the problem was, until she realized that the one with short blonde hair looked familiar.

 

“Well if it isn’t little Pocahontas,” the familiar one said, taking notice when Dani stopped short.

“Who’s your friend?” Said another.

“Her hair’s almost as red as your skin.” The rest of the men erupted in laughter over the racism he thought sounded clever. They pushed themselves off the wall and started towards the girls, with the blonde baring his teeth in a horrible smirk. Seeing that grin instantly removed all doubt that he was among the three men that attacked Dani not much more than a month ago. Rahne remembered that night well—their psychic link let her into Dani’s head, seeing their faces through her eyes, feeling the pain and terror she felt, and unjustified embarrassment.

Rahne looked to Dani, but if not for her shaking fists, she could’ve been mistaken for a statue. The tall and lanky one to make their way towards them first loomed over Rahne, his breathe reeking of smoke. He lifted his hand to cup Rahne’s chin, but before she could feel his touch he was shaken backwards from Dani’s fist. She then kicked another between the legs and when he bent over, his jaw met her knee, sending his head back with a snap and falling to the ground with a pained grunt.

Rahne didn’t wait to follow, kicking the stumbling man in the stomach with her two feet and catching herself with her hands. Pain shot up her arms from performing a move she would normally reserve for her semi-lupine form, but she ignored it and pushed herself back up on her feet. They didn’t need powers to take down these bampots… though part of Rahne wanted nothing more than to run claw marks all over their faces. She decided to settle for kicking him once more on the ground to make sure he didn’t attempt to get up.

The blonde grabbed Dani from behind while another from the front, pinning her between them. She let out a half growl, half scream, trying to wiggle out of the hold. Rahne charged and gave the one at Dani’s front a shove as hard as she could, but he refused to let go and the four of them tumbled down to the ground. At least this allowed Dani to squirm loose, and she smashed her elbow into the blonde’s nose with a wet crunch. Blood immediately began gushing over his lower face. Sitting on top of the other, Rahne grabbed the man’s hair in a fist and hit his head against the dirt.

Rahne looked over and saw that Dani had gotten on top of the blonde and smeared the man’s blood all over his face. “ _There’s_ your _red skin_ ” she spat at him, before slapping him and getting up.

Rahne did the same, but when she went to Dani, the other girl quickly turned and took a few steps away, shielding her face.

 

“Dani?”

“Yeah,” she responded in a way that sounded like she was trying to hide a frog in her throat.

“Are ye okay?”

“Yeah.” Dani sniffed, and her shoulders stiffened. “Sometimes… No, never mind.”

“What is it?” Rahne asked gently, and tried again to get close to the other girl. This time Dani didn’t move, and when Rahne looked, she saw that there were tears in Dani’s eyes. Rahne couldn’t remember the last time she saw that. Or if she ever did. Whenever Dani needed to cry, she did it alone.

“I…” Dani winced, like the words themselves were hard to say. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to be strong all the time, is all.”

“Ye _don’t_. Oh, Dani,” Rahne fell into Dani’s arms, and after a moment felt the other girl close them around her. Dani was ready to fight Reverend Craig and his men back in Ullapool for her. Rahne had been so terrified she hid behind her, had to beg the group to just leave them be. If Dani could be strong for Rahne, Rahne could be strong for Dani. “What d’ye want t’ do?”

Dani sniffed again, and wiped at her eyes with her shirt sleeve. After a heavy breath, she said, “We should tell Harry there’s some trash in his parking lot that needs cleaning up. And then we should get a damn burger.”

 

* * *

 

Rahne looked down at the bracelet on her wrist and found the fork she held in her other hand slip out of her fingers, lost in melancholy. She brushed her hand over the bead, the Morning Star, wishing she could put a word to the kind of ache she had thinking about its matching piece, and the girl who wore it.

When Magneto disbanded the New Mutants and sent them to The Massachusetts Academy, she didn’t feel so empty, because she didn’t feel anything. The Beyonder had incinerated her where she knelt, praying for forgiveness in her last seconds of life. Then he brought the New Mutants back, just to toy with them some more. The Beyonder was the most ungodly being she had ever encountered, and try as she might, there was nothing she could do to stop the loop her body ran through of those last seconds. She felt her skin melting away, felt the heat reach her bones, saw the deaths of her friends everywhere she looked, and she couldn’t take it. So she just… stopped. Everything. If it wasn’t for the White Queen, she wondered if she ever would have been able to push off that crushing weight over her shoulders. Now, she could breathe. The White Queen was wonderful. The Hellions were wonderful, especially Catseye. The Academy was wonderful. Everything was _wonderful_.

But Dani wasn’t there to share it, and it was like a piece of Rahne’s self was missing.

“Small furfriend not want food?” Catseye asked from her side, sniffing at Rahne’s half untouched plate. For a brief moment, Rahne had forgotten she was in the dining commons, that a few of her classmates were seated around her, even the noise from the hundreds of other students, something she never had to worry about at Xavier’s School.

“You okay, Rahne?” Doug echoed from across her, breaking away from conversing with Marie-Ange in French.

“I worry fer Dani,” she admitted with a sigh, tucking her hands below the table, unable to look at her friendship bracelet anymore. She treasured it so, but staring at it too much made her remember the night she gave the other to Dani, and the way Dani held her hand so softly… It brought on the bad thoughts, the sinful thoughts, the thoughts the Reverend would have beat her for. “An’ Bobby, an’ Warlock,” she quickly added.

“Moonstar, right?” Jimmy asked from all the way down at the other end of the table, apparently still hearing her tiny voice clear as day. “She okay?”

“Why do _ye_ care?” Rahne squinted, before resuming nibbling away at her food.

James leaned over the table and rested his head in his hand, leisurely. “Maybe I just have respect for a strong native woman? Not like the _X-Men_ would care about her endangerment.”

“You still got grief with the X-Men, T-Bird? They ain’t around anyway,” Sam said between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes. Then he looked to Rahne. “This got somethin’ to do with that psychic rapport you two have?”

“Yes,” Rahne nodded, “Tha’ must be it.”

“Do not worry, Rahne,” Amara smiled sweetly. “While I am sure the long distance must be hard, I’m also sure the love between you and Dani is not something so easily broken.” A hush fell over the table, and Amara looked around. “Have I said something wrong?”

Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. “’Mara, d’you think Rahne and Dani are… _dating?_ ”

“Are they not?”

“W-we’re both girlies!” Rahne stuttered, dropping her fork yet again.

“Yes?”

“Then how can ye suggest such a thing?”

Suddenly Xi’an picked up her lunch tray and silently walked away. After a minute, Amara continued. “I don’t understand,” she scrunched up her brows and tilted her head. “Is there something shameful about that in this country?”

“Yes! I mean, no! I mean…” Rahne raised her hands to her head and pulled at her hair, scrunching up her face and wishing she could disappear. “You speak o’ blasphemy, Amara!”

“Oh _man_ ,” drawled Jenny Starvos, or _Roulette_ , as she preferred, while throwing her head back in an exaggerated laugh. “Who filled your head with such garbage?”

“How dare ye—”

“I mean, _you are aware_ that the people who say those kinds of things usually say the same about _mutants_ , right? Tell us, Rahne, are we all blasphemers? The work of the devil?” When Rahne didn’t respond, Roulette only cackled again. “Oh my god, you really do believe that, don’t you?”

“Leave her alone, Roulette,” Sam finally jumped in. “S’not Rahne’s fault how she was raised.”

Rahne could feel her eyes start to sting, and didn’t want to cry in front of the already taunting Jenny. She stiffed her upper lip and stood up with a curt excuse, and ignored Catseye calling her name as she briskly exited the cafeteria as Xi’an did.

 

Rahne found herself running to her dorm, the tears getting harder and harder to hold back. She wanted Dani, and the fact that she wanted Dani only made everything _worse_.

When she reached her room, she crawled under her blankets and her sniffles break into full blown cries. _“S’not Rhane’s fault how she was raised,”_ Sam had said. Then whose was it? Reverend Craig had tried everything to save her from her sins, and nothing worked. The Lord had abandoned her to the devil’s curse, and if not for her own evil, then what for? And now still He intended to test her.

 

She just wanted her mummy to hug her and tell her she was a good person. She just wanted to go home and pretend to be normal.

 

* * *

 

It was hard to pretend to be normal living with Dr. Moira MacTaggert on Muir Isle, when her mum’s life was dedicated to researching mutation. But Rahne would be lying if she didn’t say she enjoyed hearing the constant love from the woman, who was never afraid to say that Rahne’s… _gift_ , was just that. Still, she spent much of her time away from the facility and on the bluffs, taking in the salty ocean smell of home. Sometimes she ran wherever she felt like in her lean red wolf form, unafraid when it was only herself and her mummy to see. And sometimes she’d sit near the cliff edges aside the Mutant Research Centre for hours, until her fingers and ears grew numb from the cold wind. Mostly she just enjoyed the serenity of watching the ocean, but on occasion she brought her notebook with her, interested in escaping reality and into her own created fantasy world. It’d been so long since she wrote about Alystraea, the enchanted princess.

 

Rahne put her pen to paper and started writing as the story came to her.

 

> _The enchanted wood in which princess Alystraea called home turned to crystal with the season’s snow. Alystraea spent her days caring for all her dear critter friends, and singing songs of the spring flowers to come, when the winter days were to pass._
> 
> _Alystraea was cuddling with Rumblebun, her rabbit friend, when the most dreadful fear came to her. For Alystraea heard a distress call in her head from her very best friend, with the special princess mind link they shared. The princess far away in the mountains was in terrible danger!_
> 
> _I must go to her at once!” Alystraea cried, and called on her magical shape-changer powers. She took to her wolfen form, for the mountain princess lived very far away._
> 
> _She ran fast, so fast she could cross the water without drowning. So fast she could cross the haunted cities without any mean, old and smelly taxis. So fast even the wind could not keep up with her!_
> 
> _“Princess Alystraea,” greeted the mountain princess’s beautiful royal steed, Lightbreeze, when she arrived. He was full of fear, and now so was Alystraea! She returned to her human shape, with her long red hair flowing all graceful. “You must save my lady!”_
> 
> _Alystraea calmed the horse. “What has become of princess Catriona?”_
> 
> _“The princess went to the city and was attacked by a nasty group of ogres! Now she is trapped away with one in a cave, held prisoner by the snow!”_
> 
> _“Fear not, Lightbreeze. No ogre nor storm can keep me from the princess!”_
> 
> _Alystraea used her wolf nose to follow the sweetgrass trail left by the princess. She followed it all the way into the furthest parts of the mountains, where she saw the cave that held her friend._
> 
> _“Catriona!” she called, diving into the cave. Her heart filled with joy seeing the princess was okay, standing all tall and glowing like an angel, and full of her own magic princess powers. Alystraea also saw the ogre, with as foul a glare as the breath he exhaled. But the glare rang hollow when the monster laid wounded by the fire, leaving only its words to hurt with. “I feared the worst! Why would you stay in this dreadful place with such a beast when you are well?”_
> 
> _“I could not leave this poor creature wounded, Alystrea! And besides… he… loves me!”_
> 
> _“Nay!” Aystraea cried. “Lightbreeze told me of its attack in the city! If this beastie loved you, it would never hurt you like that!”_
> 
> _“Begone, witch! You will not take the princess from me!” Growled the ogre, and Alystraea gracefully stepped past it to take the hand of the princess._
> 
> _“I will, you wretched creature! Because I know what it’s like to really love someone!”_
> 
> _Alystraea stood up on her toes as Catriona lowered her head, and they_

Rahne tore the sheet of paper from her book, crumpled it up into a ball and hurled it over the cliff.

 

* * *

 

Rahne was glad they were able to stop Legion and put Davey Haller back in the front of his mind. Really, she was. But despite her efforts to get in and out as fast as possible, what she feared most about returning to her hometown came true. Though somehow Reverend Craig was not as terrifying a sight than she remembered, even when illuminated by the fire to his back and clutching his bible as if it would protect him. He did not seem as tall, or as imposing, and when she looked at his hands, instead of seeing the fists that held the cane used to beat her, all she saw was a shaky grip of a withered old man. She faced the likes of the Shadow King, Norse Gods and whatever the Beyonder was, and was still standing. And hearing Reverend Craig curse at her, call her a _demon_ , a _creature of the pit_ … where it had once made her afraid, it had only made her _angry_.

She was angry. Furious. It _wasn’t_ Rhane’s fault how she was raised, it was _his_. Seated at her favourite cliff edge with her knees pulled into her chest, watching the gulls circle over the water below, she could hear Roulette as if she was standing right next to her, asking who filled her head with such garbage. That anger swelled, as did the pain that came from recounting all the things the Reverend and his flock said, all the things they did… Her mum was right. Roulette was right. Sam was right. Magneto was right. Dani was right.

 

…Then why did it still hurt so much?

 

Rahne felt someone drape a coat over her shoulders. She looked up to see that of course it was Dani, because it was _always_ Dani. Rahne slid her arms through the sleeves and then hugged herself, only then realizing how cold she had been, in just the blouse and checkered skirt she threw on upon their return, so poor Roberto could have his shirt back. The air had that cool dampness that always came right before a good rain, which was a fair reflection of how she was feeling, really.

           
“David’s back to normal, like nothing even happened,” Dani reported to her. It was still so nice to hear her voice again, after the two had been separated for what seemed like an eternity. Rahne looked over to see that he was seated opposite of Doug, the two of them ripping up grass half-absently that Warlock then promptly absorbed. “Good thing too, ‘cause by the way Moria explains it, Jack is still in there, waiting.” She huffed then. “I don’t get it, Rahney. David’s a nice guy, yet he’s got a real nasty piece of work in his head. But then again I guess we all have our good and bad sides… right?”

Rahne said nothing.

 

“How ya doin’?” Dani then asked, fighting with her long braids flapping furiously in the wind.

“‘M’ fine.”

“Could’a fooled me.” When Rahne kept her stony stare at the water, Dani continued. “Rahne, what Reverend Craig said doesn’t matter. He’s an old man, filled to the brim with prejudice and hate. Without you, Jack would have escaped. Moira and those policeman would have died. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re not alone. You have friends. Moira loves you. And I…” She didn’t have to finish.

“I know,” Rahne closed her eyes. “But tha’ doesn’t make me ache any the less.”

After a moment of silence, Dani finally asked, “Rahne, in town, did you really mean it, about total destruction—the death of all those people—being no more than they deserve?”

Rhane thought about it; about what irony it would be, for the very people who chased her with their torches, shot at her with their guns, were ready to burn her at the stake ‘to save her soul,’ to meet their end in a fiery explosion at the hands of mutant. “I was upset.”

“I know. But did you _mean_ it? Would you have let Jack carry out that threat?”

But Rahne didn’t have an answer for her. She was too busy thinking about how if Reverend Craig and the town might be wrong about mutants, what else could they wrong about?

 

* * *

 

Rhane found Dani in the old carriage house, finishing up after mucking Brightwind’s stall. When Rhane was a little girl, she used to fantasize about having her own pony, but never imagined it would take such work. Yet she never heard Dani complain about it, and supposed she was used to it, having done such things all her life.

“Thought I heard someone come in,” Dani smiled, and rested her hands and chin at the end of the large brush she was sweeping the ground with.

“Are ye busy? I c-can leave ye be…” Rahne stuttered out, with her stomach feeling like it was full of worms squirming around.

“Pretty much done, actually. Just cleaning up.” To prove her point, Dani kicked her bucket of supplies up against the wall, and set the broom leaning next to it. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. No. Yes. I… _ah_ ,” Rahne cupped her face, and looked to her right, to her left, up, down, anywhere but right at Dani. All that time she spent thinking about what to say, and now she couldn’t make her mouth form the words properly.

 

“All my life, I’ve tried so hard t’ be _good_. But nothing I ever did was good enough, an’ Reverend Craig never let me forget it… but Reverend Craig is no one t’ judge what’s good and what’s not. Man o’ God or not, he was _wrong_ t’ hurt me, and I’ve been wrong t’ think I deserved it.”

“Rahne,” Dani said, her sunny disposition turning solemn upon realizing this wasn’t just a friendly hello. “You are the kindest, gentlest, sweetest person I know. The only thing you deserve is all that in return.”

“I cannae say I don’t still fear the curse o’ Satan is over me,” she carried on. “But I cannae say I _care_ the same as I did, either.”

Rahne stepped closer to Dani, close enough that she could feel the taller girl’s breath on her face. She looked down and saw that Dani was fiddling with the friendship bracelet on her wrist, but stopped when Rahne saw such. “I want t’ try something. I mean, if you…” After a moment of stillness, Dani gave a quick nod, her eyes wide.

 

Rahne stood up on her tip toes as Dani lowered her head, and they slowly met each other in a kiss.

The sky didn’t fall. They didn’t spontaneously burst into flames. The ground didn’t cave in beneath them. Though Rahne was pretty sure all those things could have happened and she still wouldn’t have noticed anything but the way Dani’s lips felt, all dry and cracked yet somehow every bit as perfect as she tried so hard to not imagine. She lifted her arms up around Dani’s neck, because that’s what people did in the movies, and when she felt Dani’s arms slide to her sides, she jumped and let the other girl pick her up so that she could cross her legs around Dani’s waist. When their lips parted, Dani pressed her forehead to Rahne’s and half sighed, half giggled, like she wasn’t quite sure if this was real or an illusion. She kissed Rahne’s nose, and Rahne did the same, before their mouths met for a second time.

 

Rahne unfolded her legs to signify she wanted to get down, and slid off of Dani and back to the ground. Dani didn’t let her go though, instead they stayed in an embrace without talking for a solid minute, two minutes, maybe even three. Rahne couldn’t tell, but she had no desire to move away. She and Dani hugged all the time, but this one felt different.

 

Finally it was Dani who let her arms slip away, where she was now gripping her stomach and laughing uncontrollably. For a second Rahne was afraid she’d done something wrong, but there was no cruelty in the laugh, only happiness. It was infectious, and Rahne began laughing too.

“What d’ ye think the others’ll say?” She finally got out when the giggles subsided enough.

“Who cares?”

“I do,” Rahne responded quietly through a bit lower lip.

Dani brought her knuckles up to her lips in thought, and leaned up against the wall. “Well, I can tell you Xi’an and Illyana won’t give a damn. Don’t spread it around or nothing, but they like girls too.” Rahne was shocked, and was sure it showed on her face as Dani grew amused. “We’ve talked. They’ve known how I feel about you for a long time.” A long time? It reverberated in Rahne’s head.

“Do you think all mutants are… gay?”

Dani threw her head back and cackled. “Maybe a little,” she said jokingly, bringing her hand up with her thumb and finger pinched together. “Anyway, I’m sure Warlock won’t care neither, assuming he even gets it. Heck, honestly Rahne, I can’t imagine _anyone_ making a big deal out of it. _You_ were the only one who seemed to for a long time.”

“Hmm. _Oh_ ,” Rahne slapped her face, “Amara… Tha’ll be interesting. Ye know she thought we were dating?” Dani laughed at that, too.

 

“…Are we?” Dani asked, then. “Dating, I mean?”

“I think… I’d like to.” Rahne nodded, more to herself than the other girl.

“And if that means we both belong in _Hell?_ ” Dani smiled, and this time, Rahne returned it.

“Then it sounds like tha’s where all the fun will be.”


End file.
